New low-income housing is opening in Galesburg for residents, veterans and students, but the facility they're using was once a monastery run by a man posing to be a priest.
Earlier this year, police arrested 58-year old Ryan Scott for theft, financial exploitation, and deceptive practices. He's accused of swindling more than $100,000 in items and loans from a Galesburg woman and posing as a priest from the "Order of Saint Benedict."
The order says he was never a member, but now the fake monastery is getting a second chance to do some good.
"This guy was good, and the place looked like a monastery, there were monks, there were nuns, there was everything," Village on Fifth Developer Douglas Ball says.
The building on East Fifth Street still has signs of its past. Ball says he was looking for a place to convert into housing, and this seemed like a perfect fit.
"I had a regular lease with an option to purchase at the end, and I paid him," Ball says.
He says Ryan Scott told him the monastery was moving, so he says he paid the person he thought was a priest thousands to rent the building.
"I thought I was being financed by the Catholic Church, no question," Ball says.
Once details of Scott's real identity got out, Ball says he disappeared without a trace, leaving him with a year-long legal battle to gain ownership of the building.
"He went bankrupt in both states and that's kind of what I've been dealing with for the past year," Ball says.
Now the place is finally in his hands, and he's turning it into a home for those in need, including veterans, students, and low-income residents.
"Someone who has no place to go and can't put together $1000 for first and last month's rent for an apartment has a place they can be dealt with respect," Ball says.
The monastery turned living complex has been completely changed, adding a recreation room, fitness center and full kitchen.
Ball says, it's open to everyone.
"It's a good facility, they all work," he says, "If they don't have the money for rent, they mow the lawn; it's a good respectful community."
So far, ten rooms in the facility are being rented out, with the hope of more residents moving in soon.
"It was a real problem in the community and it was a real problem for me and we finally got it cleaned up and we're going to do something really good with it," Ball says.
For more details on the "Village On 5th," visit this link: http://www.villageon5th.com/#!
